depression questions and hopefully some answers

[deprees8]

i have had depression now for two years and a half years and i have coped with depression affecting my life all this time and jut this year it has been worse then usual. for the first four months of this year it has been really bad. my sleeping has been affected and i feel as if my body is wasting away.  some days are very good but there will be hours within those good day were the depression rears it ugly head and i cant see the end of the day coming. i feel as if i am drowning.  when i feel this way i do get out of the place where i live, but the next day i feel as if i am drowning again and it starts as soon as i open my eyes. has anyone got any ideas that might help me feel as if i am not drowning. i can go days without feeling this way but for the last few days it feels as if each day i am being forced underwater and i only get to breath every now and then. oh and has anyone told centrelink about their depression and was it recognized as a disability. i don't mean to sound as a slacker here but i cant go through the day without thinking about the possibility it might get easier if i told them that i had depression. oh well heres to a quiet night and a fast to sleep night for me.

 see yas

let the hurtful comments begin (by the way i get very sarcastic when i am depressed) and yes i have been tested for bipolar and i dont have it.

[Jacko777]

Hi deprees8,

Welcome to the Beyond Blue forums. I don't reckon you will find any hurtful comments here.

Are you getting any treatment for your depression? I hope you have some professional advice and support to address these things, with the right treatment you can recover from this and feel better.

Meditation and breathing exercises have helped me a lot to address my anxiety, breathing techniques used in the moment help me to regain my focus on positive stuff. There will be things that will help you too.

Jack

[geoff]

dear Depree, hi and welcome to the site.

Sorry it's been a little while since you have had a reply, bar from Jacko, but by having depression for any amount of time is horrific and even worse if you have struggled for a long time, even so it's an illness that takes away all your personality, what you once loved, friends and family disserting you by the bucket load, so your left on your own.

I am not sure whether centrelink have accepted your claim for Disability due to your depression, as this is an enormous problem that everybody with depression is trying to claim a payment from them, because the people working there have no concept or idea of what it's like suffering from depression.

There is no time limit for how long you/we can suffer from this horrible disease, and only if we could get this through to them, but our politicians don't understand.

I'm not sure I'm on the right track here, but please let us know. Geoff.

[liz_emm]

Hi Deprees8,

You sound as if you might feel at the end of your tether. What a horrible feeling it is. You've made a great step posting on here though. That counts! It counts as you doing something to help you feel like you're not drowning. So, well done! Good on you.

It can be so difficult to work or look for work when we are suffering from depression. I struggle every day to get up and go to work.

Two and a half years is a long time to feel so horrible. Even if you have good days and bad days (as we all do), that's still a long time to suffer from a debilitating illness. Recovery is a long process, but you are making a start by posting on here. Well done. Some options available to you as a next step are seeing a counsellor or psychologist, or calling the beyond blue helpline.

Good luck! You are strong, important and worthy.